A van driver almost mowed down a pedestrian as he accelerated away from an “irate” shopkeeper at a Perth filling station.
Gordon Cuthbert overtook queuing traffic and ran a red light after his passenger was unable to pay for fuel at the BP garage on Dunkeld Road.
The 44-year-old, who misremembered the pedestrian he nearly struck giving him the thumbs up, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and pled guilty to dangerous driving at junction near St Catherine’s Retail Park on July 27 2022.
Cuthbert, from Kirkcaldy, was banned from driving for nearly two years.
Sheriff Charles Macnair told him: “This was a bad piece of driving.
“A pedestrian had to take evasive action to avoid a collision with you.”
He said: “This was not a momentary lapse, it was deliberate.
“With considerable hesitation, I will deal with this by way of a level one community payback order.”
Cuthbert was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and disqualified for 22 months.
Dashcam footage
Fiscal depute Sam Craib showed the sheriff dashcam footage from one of the vehicles sitting at the red light.
It showed Cuthbert’s white Ford Transit overtaking stationary traffic and entering the junction.
“You can clearly see that the lights are red for a significant period of time,” said Mr Craib.
“The green man light activates and pedestrian walks out into the road and has to stop.”
Solicitor David Bell, defending, told the court: “My client’s position is that the vehicle had just been refuelled.
“It was the passenger who had gone in to pay and there appears to have been a problem with payment.
“A number of cards were tried and then the shopkeeper indicated that they were to wait there for the police to arrive.”
Mr Bell said: “The police eventually indicated that they weren’t coming to the incident – I’m not sure if that was to do with a lack of resources or not.
“At this point, with no other means to pay for the fuel, the shopkeeper appears to have become irate and angry.
“Mr Cuthbert’s position is that he was threatening towards him, so he decided to leave.”
The solicitor added: “For what it’s worth, my client’s recollection was that the pedestrian had given him the thumbs up from the roadside.
“We have seen the dashcam footage and that obviously is not what happened.
“This was dangerous driving and there is no quibble with that.”
Mr Bell told the court: “Mr Cuthbert is someone who has struggled with drug dependence over the years.
“He has been out of trouble from 2017 until 2022, when he was working hard and leading a law-abiding life.
“But in early 2022, there was a return to drug use.
“He is aware that this is a serious matter.”
Cuthbert, of Cheviot Road, pled guilty to overtaking other road users when it was unsafe to do so, failing to adhere to road signs and signals, failing to stop at a red light then entering a junction when it was unsafe and causing a pedestrian to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Prosecutors accepted a not guilty plea to a charge of stealing fuel.
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